Rob Mackenzie: Leading Tottenham’s talent hunt

2025-10-16

Our guest on Episode #73 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Teamworks, is Rob Mackenzie. Rob is the Head of Scouting at Tottenham and has worked for the Europa League champions for two years. Prior to Spurs, he was Head of Recruitment at Aston Villa and at Leuven in Belgium, and Head of Technical Scouting at Leicester City, helping to lay the foundations for their Premier League triumph. In this episode Rob gave us the inside track on Tottenham's scouting operation and gave insights into his two d...

Our guest on Episode #73 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Teamworks, is Rob Mackenzie.

Rob is the Head of Scouting at Tottenham and has worked for the Europa League champions for two years.

Prior to Spurs, he was Head of Recruitment at Aston Villa and at Leuven in Belgium, and Head of Technical Scouting at Leicester City, helping to lay the foundations for their Premier League triumph.

In this episode Rob gave us the inside track on Tottenham's scouting operation and gave insights into his two decades in the game.

SHOW NOTES =>

02:40: What does Head of Scouting role involve? Who is in your team?

10:17: Squad building is a continual process. Importance of long-term strategy and alignment. Working to a game model.

18:47: How involved is Thomas Frank in the scouting process?

22:58: Was there a change in strategy in terms of the players you signed this summer?

26:25: How do you scout character? Example of Mohammed Kudus.

32:34: How important is athleticism and physicality when scouting/ selecting players?

37:34: How important is robustness/ availability.

42:50: Does a player's financials form part of the scouting picture (ie their wages/ what the potential transfer fee might be)?

46:06: Getting into football with Leicester City/ how Riyad Mahrez was 'discovered'.

58:07: Why it's getting harder to discover hidden gems. Example of signing Jhon Duran at Aston Villa.